The present invention relates to air heaters and more particularly to an improved combustion apparatus for fluid fuels and method of combusting fuel-air mixtures which includes a unique burner structure that enhances fuel-air intermixture for ignition in the burner assembly.
It long has been known to introduce combustion supporting air into a longitudinally extending burner assembly through a plurality of spaced apertured air inlets extending along the length of a burner housing, attention being directed to the long since expired U.S. Pat. No. 305,439, issued to T. P. Doane on Sep. 23, 1884 and to U.S. Pat. No. 1,426,815, issued to M. Burgstaller on Aug. 22, 1922. Further attention is directed to the more recent U.S. Pat. No. 3,574,508, issued to C. W. Rothhaar et al on Apr. 13, 1971, which teaches introducing air in a burner assembly mixing cone through canted apertures to develop a swirling of the air about the cone center axis to enhance air-fuel intermixture; to the perforated double cone combustion chamber of U.S. Pat. No. 4,113,425, issued to Von Linde et al on Sep. 12, 1978; to the perforated evaporator tube of U.S. Pat. No. 4,203,719 issued to C. Brandt on May 20, 1980; and, to the apertured flat wall elements in U.S. Pat. No. 4,523,905, issued to D. Lewis on Jun. 18, 1985.
None of these aforenoted, patents, however, teaches or suggests the novel burner assembly and method of the present invention which utilizes a unique burner conformation to provide air stream impingement, agitation and turbulence along the periphery of the confining burner walls and which serves to both enhance fuel-air mixing and to avoid excessive heating and carbon build-up. The novel arrangement of the present invention further serves to maximize air pressure usage and to allow ready air control in comparatively shorter burner assemblies. Further, the present invention serves to provide a unique structure to reduce the flame propagation rate in a burner assembly and to provide comparatively low operating noise levels. In addition, the present invention provides a straightforward and comparatively economical burner structure which can be readily manufactured and assembled in different appropriate sizes to meet various heating demands with a minimum of manufacturing and assembly steps.
Numerous other features of the present invention will become obvious to one skilled in the art upon reading the disclosure set forth herein.